Norwegian – American

This list contains Norwegian words with their English translations.
The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources.
If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Norwegian – English dictionary. (See «Additional Resources» section below.)

Norwegian is a Germanic language like Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic.
There are two official dialects in Norway.
Prior to 1915 most Norwegian records are in a language closer to written danish than modern Norwegian.
You may also want to refer to the Danish Genealogical Word List (Series LANG -DAN, 1).
Records published after 1915, such as family and local histories, are in modern Norwegian.
Most differences between modern and old Norwegian are simply a matter of spelling.
Carefully study the section below on spelling This will help you find words on this list.

Variant Forms of Words

In Norwegian, as in English, the forms of some words will vary according to how they are used in a sentence.
Who—whose—whom or marry—marrries—married are examples in English with variant forms.
The endings of a word in a document may differ from those in this list, for example:

The Norwegian dictionaary has three additional letters: Æ (æ), Ø (ø) and Å (å).
In most record sources prior to 1915, Å is written as Aa (aa) and filed at the beginning of the alphabet.
Modern Norwegian dictionaries, indexes, the locality section of the Family History Library Catalogue, and this word list use the following alphabetical order:

Spelling

aa used for å j used for gj f used for v w used for v
b used for p ld used for ll g used for k x used for ks
c used for k nd used for nn i used for j ch used for k
d used for t q used for k tj used for kj hj used for j
e used for æ ae used for æ oe used for ø u used for v

This word list includes words only most commonly found in genealogical sources.
For further help, use a Nowegian-English Dictionary.
Several Norwegian-English Dictionaries are available at the Family History Library.
These are in the Scandinavian collection. Their call numbers begin with 439.82321.
Family history centers can obtain the following dictionaries on microfilm:

Norwegian English Dictionary
by Einar Haugen
ISBN 0-299-03874-2
Published by The University of Wisconsin Press
(520 pagers, 60.000 words)

Additional dictionaries are listed in the subject section of the
Family History Library Catalog under NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE DICTIONARIES or in
the locality section under NORWAY – LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES

A helpful guide for reading Scandinavian language genealogical records is:
Scandinavian Records Extraction, An Instrluctional Guide (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Latter Day Saints, [1988].
In addition to a glossary of names and genealogical word, this guide includes instructions in reading the handwriting.

Residents of the United States and Canada can order this guide (stock # PEGS0023) from the Salt Lake Distribution Center, 1999 West 1700 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104.
Addresses of distribution centers in other countries are available from the same address.

MEASUREMENTNorwegian units of measurementKEY WORDS
In order to find and use specific types of Norwegian records, you will need to know some key words in Norwegian.
This section lists key genealogical terms in English and the Norwegian words With the same or similar meanings.

This general word list includes words commonly seen in genealogical sources.
Numbers, months and days of the week are listed both here and in sections that follows this list.
Parentheses in the English column clarify the definition.